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Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Not Fit for a Dog! is another good book full of information about commerical pet foods. Written by three veterinarians, this book provides an in-depth appraisal of the pet food industry and what people are feeding to their cats and dogs. It "highlights the dangers of modern pet foods--how it is unbalanced, creates addiction, and often contains ingredients that can literally poison your pet. It explodes the myths propounded by pet food companies that human food is "bad" for pets, and that natural diets are unsafe. It exposes the horrific truths that pet food manufacturers will sell you a "normal" diet for your cat that will cause diabetes, and then sell you another prescription diet to help control the diabetes, and how prescription diets themselves can cause illness."

In this book, you will learn how to read pet food labels and what you need to avoid for your pet's sake and how to save on vet bills by preventing your pet from developing one or more diet-related diseases. You'll learn why your vet may not have much to say about pet foods, what diet-related diseases your pet may already have, and how a change in diet can help. It explains how our health and our pets' health are interconnected and how we should all support organic farming practices and suppliers. This book is a massive indictment of the pet food industry, but also of our entire approach to growing and processing food--for us humans as well as for our pets. Get your copy now at Amazon.com or Half.com.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

The health of your pets depends so much on what you feed them. I cannot stress that enough. That is why you need to read this book. Food Pets Die For; Shocking Facts About Pet Foods by Ann N. Martin is a real eye-opener when it comes to the commercial foods we feed our pets. This book is well-organized, well-documented and full of facts you need to know as a pet owner.

Ann Martin, internationally recognized as an authority on commercial pet food, has been investigating the multi-billion-dollar commerical pet food industry since 1990. Sonoma State University's School of Journalism's "Project Censored" recognized her investigative writing on the pet food industry as one of the most important yet under-reported news stories. She has exposed the truth behind what is contained in many commercial pet foods--including euthanized cats and dogs. She also documents the ongoing animal experimentation funded by many major pet food companies in the name of nutritious pet food.

She first began to question the pet food industry twenty years ago after her two dogs, a Newfoundland and a Saint Bernard, got severly ill after eating dry dog food. She had the food tested at an independent lab and results showed a zinc level twenty times higher than the daily recommended dose of 50 parts per million (ppm). Zinc levels in excess of 1,000 ppm can be toxic to dogs.

She quickly learned that this multi-billion dollar industry in many ways is self-regulated. She "also learned that there are many deplorable ingredients that legally can be used in pet foods as sources of protein--in particular, euthanized cats and dogs, diseased cattle and horses, road kill, dead zoo animals, and meat not fit for human consumption. In addition, fiber sources in many foods are composed of the leftovers from the food chain, including beet pulp, the residue of sugar beets, peanut hulls, and even sawdust sweepings from the floor of the rendering plant!" She talks about how researchers found traces of Pentobarbital in pet foods as far back as 1998. Pentobarbital is used for euthanizing animals. "The researchers surmised that pentobarbital was finding its way into commercial pet foods through animals who had been euthanized with pentobarbital and later rendered for "meat meal" in pet food." Research done in 1995 concluded that sodium pentobarbital "survived rendering without undergoing degradation".

Not only that, but "while researching the lastest information on the 2007 pet food recall, she came across disturbing information that indicates rendered cat and dog carcasses could be entering the human food chain". She found "evidence that leads to the strong possiblitiy that shrimp, fish and eel grown on fish farms in China and other Asian countries, could be eating "tankage" shipped form renderers in California. And speaking of the pet food recall of 2007, (which by the way, killed over 8,000 pets) you are aware of that one because it was so big and so many different foods were involved. She lists in detail several other examples of pet food recalls going back to 1995. I currently get notices of pet food recalls on a fairly regular basis.

She gives a detailed explanation of what all the ingredients are in pets foods, how they are processed and tested, what the laws and regulations are, what studies have been done and more! This lady has really done the research! She tells you how to read the labels, what to look for (or look out for!) in the ingredients. She has a list of recommended natural pet food companies and tells you about each one. She has recipes for home cooked meals for cats and dogs. She also has a chapter about bloat: a canine killer, a chapter on designer dogs and pet scams on the internet and newspapers. This book is full of information. Information you need to know as a pet owner. Order your copy now at Amazon.com or Half.com

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Another great inspiring read from Nathan Winograd and the perfect follow up to Redemption: The Myth of Pet Overpopulation & The No Kill Revolution in America.

We've heard it time and time again. We've been lead to believe that there is a pet overpopulation problem and it's because there aren't enough homes for them. That's why we kill over 4 million pets every year in this country. But when you look at the facts, this just isn't so:

There are 8 million dogs and cats who enter U.S. shelters annually.

Over 90 percent of those -- just over 7 million -- are savable. (The remaining are hopelessly ill or injured animals and vicious dogs whose prognosis for rehabilitation is poor or grave.)

4 million will actually be saved. 3 million will be killed.

Of those killed, over 2 million to 3 million (on the high end) need a new home. The remainder includes lost strays who should be reclaimed by their families and feral cats who should be neutered and released.

Other than those who will always adopt from a shelter (those saved above), there are 17 million people who are considering a new dog or cat next year and who would also consider adoption from a shelter. 17 million! "Consequently, even if roughly 80 percent get an animal from a source other than a shelter, killing of healthy and treatable animals can be ended."

"Today, there are about 165 million dogs and cats in homes. Of those, less than 20 percent come from shelters. Three percent of 165 million equates to 4.9 million, more than all the savable animals killed in shelters." Therefore, we need to increase the market for shelter pets by only three percent in order to eliminate killing."

So there are, in fact, plenty of homes for the animals killed in our shelters every year. There is NOT a pet overpopulation problem! The problem is that our shelters, some of who are very large and powerful, are not doing all they can do to save lives. They are stuck in the old belief that the only answer is to kill. They are not doing what we expect them to do with our donations -- save lives. "If all shelter directors cultivate the desire and will to do so, and then earnestly follow through, we can end killing for all savable animals right now--today!"

"From the perspective of achievability, therefore, the prognosis for widespread No Kill success is excellent." And these results have already been achieved in communities across the country; some urban, some rural, in the North and in the South. In liberal states and conservative ones. "Demographically these communities share little in common. However, they do share shelter leadership committed to saving all the lives at risk."

So what can we do? We can demand from our politicians and shelter leaders to adopt better policies, procedures and management by using The No Kill Equation, which has been proven to stop the killing. We can donate to the organizations who advocate and use these no-kill methods instead of the ones who continue to go on with the same old belief that adopting out a few & killing the rest is acceptable. We can adopt from animal shelters.

We can't wait for the big humane organizations with the big political muscles to lead us. "Instead, we must lead them. We're the ones we've been waiting for. We have found our voice, and recognize the potential its fullest expression can create. No more compromises. No more killing."

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About Me

Cozy Critters Pet Sitters provides professional, personalized in-your-home pet care. We also provide house and plant care for people without pets. Family owned and operated since 2002. Insured and Bonded.